Mr Clarke will be the new managing director of FRH, while Mr Bresnahan will be chairman of FRH and SuperRatings.

New SuperRatings chief executive Nathan MacPhee said: “There is no holistic research firm in the market so this is a first for the industry. Lonsec has been strong in financial investment management but does not have strength in the superannuation component, so there are shared opportunities."

Mr Carnegie said: “This acquisition represents the first part of a growth strategy to build Australia’s pre-eminent financial services research and execution firm."

Mr MacPhee said there would be no immediate changes to the strategies or businesses of either Lonsec or SuperRatings.